Police, Close Club, Cancel SANE's Sing

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
October 31, 1961

Nobody sang for SANE at Club Mt. Auburn last night.

Police, fire inspectors, and a building sector closed the club for violation of the fire laws yesterday afternoon, about six hours before the disarmament group's second weekly Folk-sing was scheduled to begin here.

Instead of guitar music, the folksingers were greeted by a painted sign in the Club's window reading: "One cannot sing in peace any longer. The police have closed our Sing Out for SANE."

Several policeman stood in front of the Club and told passersby to "move along." Most left after only a few grummbled comments of "dirty trick" and "police state."

WHDH Takes Pictures

The biggest crowd of the evening, about 30 persons, appeared when a film crew from television station WHDH started taking pictures.

Gabriel M. Kolko, a tutor at Quincy House and member of the executive committee of Boston SANE, charged that police closed the club to harass his organization. "Now you don't have the right to sing in peace," he said.

If the Club is re-opened, SANE will hold another folk-sing there next Monday according to Walter A. Wanning '63, organizer of the event.

Police Lt. Francis Barry, who arranged the afternoon inspection which closed the Club, denied Kolko's allegation. "We just had a job to do," he declared. Deputy Fire Chief Francis Connelly said the Club's "housekeeping has gone through a period of laxness which have made it a fire hazard."

The Club was closed by police for similar violations two summers ago while it was operating a small theater.